p, moody's fitch, they look at the totality of debt, what the country is doing about it, the monetary policy, the taxation policy, the economic agenda. and they determine, is there a credible plan and a realistic plan to bring down the debt and stabilize the finances. if they believe that that isn't the case, then again the aaa goes. one of the reasons, wolf, britain has embarked on this draconian austerity, they believed the market was going to blow up uk bonds. it was warned it was on a negative. the u.s. has been warned it's on a negative watch. and it hasn't managed to put together this deal yet to actually avoid default. so you've got to ask yourself, maybe the rating agencies are doing their job in actually warning that something is smelly under the hood. >> richard, how does the rest of the world see what's happening in the united states right now. you're in london. >> which word would you like many eto use? flabber gasterred, bewildered, horrified, alarmed, concerned? any one of them will do. what people are saying at the very top level, and they will not say it publicly yet,